New Doctor Who Release Brings Back the Last Master We Ever Expected (Plus Some Criminally Underused Villains)

With Doctor Who, you can never keep a good monster down. The world’s longest-running sci-fi TV show, Doctor Who has had a rough few years. The BBC’s partnership with Disney+ has come to an end, and the public broadcaster seems to be struggling to figure out how to finance future seasons. Russell T. Davies is on board for another Christmas special, but the future is up in the air beyond that.

Fortunately, Big Finish continue to produce an ongoing series of excellent audiobooks set throughout the Doctor Who timeline. The latest, “The Worlds of Doctor Who – Zygon Century: Transformation” is a thrilling box set featuring the shapeshifting aliens known as the Zygons, last seen on TV back in 2015. “The Zygon Century” is an ongoing Big Finish epic in which a Zygon faction infiltrate Earth in a hundred-year masterplan. Even more excitingly, this story also features Eric Roberts, reprising the role of the Master from the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie.

“Tim Treloar, Eric Roberts and Charlie Russell lead the cast of Zygon Century: Transformation, a brand-new box set of Doctor Who audio drama, out now.

The Black Cadre live among us. Over a hundred-year period, this sect of the shape-shifting Zygons has been infiltrating human society. And their influence spreads across the globe…

Transformation, the second box set in the audio drama series Zygon Century, comprises three new tales set across this century-long project, which reveal how far-reaching the Black Cadre’s schemes have become. From Munich to Death Valley to Moscow, the Zygons are everywhere.

As new characters join the fray, Transformation also continues several stories begun in last year’s first volume, Infiltration. First, Jonathan Rigby returns as Herbert Scott, paranormal investigator, alongside horror stalwart James Swanton as the poet Anthony Poole.

Then, Charlie Russell (the star of Mischief Theatre’s Play That Goes Wrong series) is back as Vorvoren, a Zygon on the run who has an encounter with the Master (Eric Roberts). And finally, the Third Doctor (Tim Treloar) teams up with British agent Caldwell (Joshua Manning) for a mission into Soviet Russia.

The Worlds of Doctor Who – Zygon Century: Transformation is available to purchase now for just £19.99 (download to own) or £29.99 (download to own + collector’s edition 3-disc CD box set). Please note: the collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,000 copies and will not be re-pressed.”

The Zygons Are Playing the Long Game – But How Does the Master Fit Into It?

Zygon Century: Transformation features three separate stories:

• 1922 – “The Black Cadre” features occult investigator Herbert Scott, rescued from prison by a German heiress who he fears is not all she seems. Meanwhile, the Black Cadre is curiously interested in a carnival traveling the wilder reaches of the Cornish coast.
• 1968 – “An Incident in Death Valley” focuses on a rogue Zygon on the run from the Black Cadre, who winds up facing a mysterious cult. They’re led by “the Arkon,” who may well have alien origins.
• 1974 – “The Caldwell Restitution” brings the exiled Third Doctor into the fray, working with a spy named Agent Caldwell assigned to the USSR who is “plagued by nightmares of the past and misty visions of the future.”

The Third Doctor element in particular is sure to delight fans. “The Zygons have infiltrated the Soviet Union’s nuclear power capacity so the Doctor’s there to give a hand,” Tim Treloar (who voices Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor) reveals. “There’s very much a James Bond vibe going on. I love the fact it’s set in the 70s at the height of the Cold War. Caldwell and the Doctor are a bit of a double act, on disagreeable terms!”

But the most shocking reveal is surely Eric Roberts’ return as the Master. This particular ill-fated incarnation only appeared in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie, and this Big Finish audiobook feels like part of the film’s 30th anniversary celebrations. It also means the series is up to some “timey-wimey” shenanigans by bringing this Master back, given he was supposed to have “died” at the end of that movie. Still, doing so in a convincing manner opens up any number of story possibilities for future Big Finish Doctor Who adventures.

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